Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Major Events/First Task
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| Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Major Event | |
| Triwizard Tournament - The First Task | |
|---|---|
| Location | The Forbidden Forest |
| Time Period | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, November 24 |
| Important Characters | Harry Potter, Cedric Diggory, Viktor Krum, Fleur Delacour |
Contents |
[edit] Overview
The First Task of the Triwizard Tournament is to retrieve a golden egg from the nest of a dragon.
[edit] Event Details
The initial briefing for the First Task is done immediately after the selection of the Champions, on 31 October. This briefing is very sketchy, as the intent of the Task was in part 'designed to test your daring.' To that end, the judge who is doing the briefing of the candidates, Mr. Crouch, states that they will not know what they will be facing until the date of the Task.
Shortly before the Task, Hagrid asks Harry to come visit him, with his Invisibility Cloak. With an invisible Harry in tow, Hagrid collects Madame Maxime, the headmistress of Beauxbatons, and they walk around the edge of the Forbidden Forest to a spot where they can see a large corral. In the corral are four dragons. Harry watches as Hagrid talks with Charlie Weasley about what the dragons are for; apparently the Champions are expected to get past them or something. Charlie questions the wisdom of bringing Madame Maxime to see them; Hagrid brushes this off, saying that they are lovely, dragons.
Harry, having heard all he can stand, retreats; still invisible, he bumps into Professor Karkaroff, the headmaster of Durmstrang, who is also prowling around for a look at the dragons.
Harry returns to the Gryffindor common room, for a scheduled meeting with Sirius; Sirius has more important news to impart, and doesn't get around to telling Harry what to do about the dragons until the very end of the conversation. Before he can complete his sentence, however, they are interrupted by the arrival of Ron, and Sirius vanishes. As Harry and Ron are currently at odds, it is Hermione who tries to help Harry find counter-dragon spells; but she will not allow him to skip classes while looking.
Harry, meanwhile, is concerned; he figures that all the champions now know about the dragons except Cedric, and this does not seem fair to him. He engineers an opportunity to get Cedric on his own, and tells him about the dragons. However, he is overheard by Professor Moody, who sends Cedric off and steers Harry into his office. Harry expects to be told off or disqualified for cheating, but Moody tells him that cheating is almost a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament; then asks if Harry knows how he's going to get past the dragons. When Harry admits that he does not, Moody provides him with a pair of clues that tells Harry how to pass the dragon. Harry quickly enlists Hermione to teach him how to perform a Summoning spell.
The Task takes place on November 24 and is held in a specially prepared clearing in the Forbidden Forest. Before it begins, the champions enter a tent to prepare and be briefed. This task is extremely difficult and dangerous: the champions are to retrieve a golden egg from a dragon. Each has their own dragon, chosen by pulling out a miniature dragon model from a purple bag held by Ludo Bagman. Each miniature dragon is marked with a number, indicating the order in which the champions are to be summoned to the task.
Before the Task actually starts, Ludo takes Harry aside and asks if he had a plan. Ludo seems to be offering assistance to Harry; Harry doesn't quite know what to make of this, Ludo is, after all, one of the five judges.
The task unfolds as follows:
- Dragon # 1, Swedish Short-Snout (blue-gray) - Cedric Diggory (he transfigured a boulder into a Labrador, which diverted the attention of the dragon long enough to let him steal the egg)
- Dragon # 2, Common Welsh Green - Fleur Delacour (attempted to charm her dragon into a trance. This worked, but the dragon snored, and the resulting flame set her robes alight)
- Dragon # 3, Chinese Fireball (small) - Viktor Krum (used Conjunctivitus Curse but the dragon thrashed about in a rage and damaged other eggs)
- Dragon # 4, Hungarian Horntail (the most dangerous) - Harry Potter (used Summoning Charm to call his Firebolt and ride on it, tempting the dragon to rise away from the golden egg. When the dragon had reared, leaving the eggs unguarded, he quickly scooped up the egg and finished the task with the highest points)
Points were based on speed, skill, and avoiding damage to other dragon eggs—Viktor lost points for this. At the end of this task, the points awarded were as follows:
- Harry Potter, 40 points;
- Viktor Krum, 40 points;
- Cedric Diggory, 38 points;
- Fleur Delacour, unknown.
[edit] Notable Consequences
The objective of the Task was to retrieve a golden egg from the dragons. After the Task has ended, Ludo Bagman informs the champions that the eggs will open and each contains a clue that will be necessary for the Second Task. The Champions will be required to solve the riddle of the Egg before the Second Task, which will be taking place on 24 February.
As is usual in the Triwizard Tournament, the Champions did risk injury or death in the course of this challenge. Apparently at least three of the four Champions received some injury: Cedric was burned on one side when the dragon decided it wanted him rather than the Transfigured dog, Fleur was burned when the dragon she had Charmed to sleep belched a little fire as it snored, and Harry was slashed by one of the spikes on his dragon's tail as it tried to attack him.
Harry's coming out of this task tied for first place with Krum somewhat changed the dynamic within the Champions as well. Before, they had tended to dismiss him – as Fleur had said initially, "'E cannot compete. 'E is too young!" After his showing in the first Task, they see him as a true contender and worthy of notice.
Before this Task, Harry and Ron had been estranged; Ron was convinced, despite Harry saying otherwise, that Harry had put his own name into the Goblet, and was upset that he hadn't told Ron how he had done it. Believing that Harry had put his own name in, Ron was also convinced that Harry was lying to him. In this Task, Harry is in so much evident and immediate danger that Ron suddenly changes his mind, accepting that someone who wanted Harry dead had actually put Harry's name in for the Tournament; by the time Harry's scores are posted, they are fast friends again.
Much of the school shared Ron's opinion, in fact, believing that Harry had managed to make himself the fourth Triwizard champion because he wanted the associated fame or Galleons. Members of Slytherin house had, in fact, made a bit of an industry of taunting Harry about this. After this first Task, it was apparent that the life of a Champion would not be an easy one, and the animosity towards Harry from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff houses abated somewhat. Harry suspects that Cedric had instructed the other members of Hufflepuff house to lay off him because Harry had taken the time to tell Cedric about the dragons, but this is never confirmed.
It is true, however, that Cedric discovers the clue in the Golden Egg that leads to the solution to the Second Task before Harry does. Having deciphered the clue, Cedric makes a point of passing the clue on to Harry just after the Yule Ball. Cedric does this because it is only fair – Harry told him about the dragons, it is only fair that he should return the favour.
